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* We were told yesterday that Gov. Blagojevich took a state plane to this weeks’ governors meeting with President-elect Barack Obama. An Akron radio station has now taken a look at how other governors traveled to Philadelphia…
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was among those making the trip to press for more money from Washington, but his spokesman Keith Dailey noted the visit by commercial jet was paid for out of Strickland’s campaign money and not with state funds. The Governor didn’t take the state plane because the trip wasn’t bipartisan business, as he attended a Democratic Governor’s Association sponsored event Monday.
Gov. Blagojevich also attended that Democratic event. Hmm.
* This is the argument I made yesterday when I called the state plane usage a “stupid” idea…
Some of the state leaders obviously took a page from what happened when the Detroit top executives were roundly criticized by federal lawmakers and pundits for taking private jets to Washington to appear before Congress to press for relief in the form of up to $25 billion in assistance.
You’d think there’d be a learning curve on 15 16. You’d be wrong.
California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, flew on a private jet, but paid his own way, New Jersey’s governor took a train and the governor of Michigan drove.
Ahnold is rich, NJ is close by, but the Michigan governor drove? Interesting.
In all, 11 governors took a commercial flight, eight flew on a state plane, officials in Kentucky and Mississippi said their governors flew on a plane, but wouldn’t specify whether it was a private or commercial jet and five governors didn’t go. There were 22 state offices that did not return our phone calls.
At least eleven took a commercial flight, but that was apparently not on our governor’s agenda.
* Here is part of the station’s list…
Florida - Governor Charlie Crist flew in a state plane and took his Chief of Staff, Communication’s Director , two security officials and an aide.
Illinois - Governor Rod Blagojevich flew to Philadelphia on a state plane; no other details were provided.
Indiana - Governor Mitch Daniels flew to see Obama on a state plane.
Iowa - Governor Chet Culver took a commercial flight.
Kansas - Governor Kathleen Sebelius took a state plane.
Maine - Governor John E. Baldacci took a commercial plane, flying US Airways.
Maryland - Governor Martin O’Malley took a state plane. (Annapolis, MD is a 126-mile trip taking approximately 2 hours, 27 minutes according to Mapquest.com)
Massachusetts - Governor Deval Patrick flew on a commercial plane.
Vermont - Governor Jim Douglas flew on a commercial plane to D.C. then traveled by train from D.C. to Philadelphia.
Virginia - Governor Tim Kaine flew to Philadelphia on a state plane.
Washington - Governor Christine Gregoire flew on a commercial plane.
West Virginia - Governor Joe Manchin III took four people, including security, via a state plane.
Wisconsin - Governor James Doyle took a commercial flight to Philadelphia.
I still say it was a stupid idea to take a state plane to Philly.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:47 pm
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“You’d think there’d be a learning curve on 15. You’d be wrong.”
I would agree no learning curve on 15. The Treasurer and the Lt. Governor need to adapt to the 21st century…
Comment by GoBearsss Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:55 pm
Oops. Typo. Fixed.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 1:59 pm
There is no reason Blagojevich needed to take our plane. It isn’t like he is busy governing so he couldn’t put in the time needed to plan this trip.
Nope. Blagojevich still wants to play games with our money and enjoy the perks he gets while in office.
So much for his political instincts! He could have drove to Philadelphia in a Chicago-made Taurus X and trumpeted his state’s manufacturing prowess as he crossed the border. He could have driven a Escape or Mariner hybrid and demonstrated his concerns for the environment and our domestic auto manufacturers. He could have rode an old Schwinn across Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania touting it’s health benefits, environmental benefits and retro-cudos. He could have crossed the Midwest offering rides to the governors of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in a 1962 VW Bus painted with flowers and rainbows dressed as a Grateful Dead groupie.
No - he took our plane because he is just getting damn lazy and stupid.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:01 pm
He could have taken a page out of Dan Walker’s play book and walked to the conference. And there is a strong comparison of Walker and Blagoof, Blagoof might be able to walk the State but he sure as hell can’t run it!
Comment by Dan S, a Voter and Cubs Fan Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:09 pm
Not a big Blago fan, but I don’t see the issue here. The daily Chicago-Springfield-Chicago flights during the overtime session were stupid. Sarah Palin’s socking taxpayers with travel costs associated with her kids was stupid (as was her claiming per diem money for staying at home). I view the plane and the mansion as perks of the office - he’s underused one and uses the heck out the other, so it balances out.
Comment by The Unlicensed Hand Surgeon Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:25 pm
I think they should have rented hybrid cars and drove themselves to Philly. Than they need to run up stars to the art museum and do the Rocky dance. That would be the most viewed video on you tube.
Comment by Boscobud Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:28 pm
The Governor of Maryland took a state plane? I’m no geography expert, but couldn’t he have just, you know, walked? What a joke.
Comment by Edward Morgan Blake Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:29 pm
This is a minor issue IMO, but if you can load up an already-amortized state aircraft, and fly it to Philadelphia with a pilot who is already on the state payroll, did the unsunk cost (probably fuel and landing fees) exceed the value of the commercial flights for gov and staff?
If attending an annual meeting of your governmental peers is not a legitimate use of state aircraft, then what is? Only if there are cheaper ways of getting there that are just as efficient.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 2:57 pm
As swollen as Blago’s head has become from all this Senate talk and as full of hot air as he is, couldn’t he have just floated away on the a jet stream breeze and made it there?
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:09 pm
I am confused (no surprise there), but what do you mean by learning curve of 16? I have tried and tried to figure this out to no avail…..
Comment by Joe in the Know Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:11 pm
16th floor, JRT.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:14 pm
Especially when you are flying from Chicago to Philadelphia. There are literally nearly 50 round trip flights on commercial airlines from O’Hare to Philly every day. Oh, and most of those fares are about $160 BTW.
Maybe if the conference was in a place that was harder to get to, okay fly the state plane if you have to - but Chicago to Philly? Come on, no good reason for that at all.
Oh, wait here’s a good reason. It’s HIS plane! Just like the Senate seat is HIS Christmas Present to give.
I sure wish elected officials would remember they work for us, not for themselves. What a jerk!
Comment by carbon deforestation Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:38 pm
The difference is that the Governor didn’t fly in on a big fancy jet like the auto execs did.
He flew in on the state plane, a rinky dinky little prop plane.
To Philly and back couldn’t have been more than 1000 miles round trip. That’s probably a total cost of 1,500 to 1,800 dollars, based on the OIG estimates.
Looking at united and American, getting a flight less than a week in advance to Philly costs about 400 to 450 bucks a person.
With him, his protection detail, press person and policy staff, that would have exceeded 2,500 to fly commercial.
So, it is a wash in cost, it seems.
Whether it was worth it, I don’t know. But it could be if it gets Illinois those billions Obama is promising.
Comment by Not Steve Brown Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:49 pm
But we don’t know if his highness took anyone with him. If not, he could have picked up the governors of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia…(probably billed them for a share of the trip, too).
Comment by BehindTheScenes Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 3:59 pm
Calculate the carbon footprints of all these prima donnas . Why not just teleconference? Where is the green leadership here?
Comment by vole Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:03 pm
Vole-
In the future, no state or federal legislator or executive will leave home, they will just govern from their living rooms via the information superhighway. In that regard, our stay-at-home governor is truly ahead of his time.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:18 pm
Things must be a mess if we’re haggling over how who got to where they needed to be. I suppose I understand the point don’t come to Uncle Sam looking for a bailout while flying an expensive private aircraft.
Comment by Levois Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:19 pm
Six: Blago could not have done any worse if he had just lived in a cave and smoked dope the past six years.
Comment by vole Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:22 pm
If the cost from Chicago to Springfiled is always estimated at more than $5000 how can a Philly flight be less?
Comment by Pick of the litter Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:23 pm
==Kansas - Governor Kathleen Sebelius took a state plane.==
Topeka, Kansas has an old Strategic Air Command base for an airport, with runways that can handle the biggest planes, but no commercial airline service. To fly commercial, she would have had to go to Kansas City or Witchita.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:28 pm
Levois: The true irony of that confrontation between the congressmen and the car men was that the sanctimonious congress creatures had aided and abetted Detroit getting in such a bad condition in the first place and took campaign booty from them in return. It was like: “You idiots, you ran your companies into the ground just like we let you to do!”
Comment by vole Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:28 pm
Chicago to Philly is more like 1500 miles round trip.
Cruise spped I found for the Beechcraft 160 MPH /188 KPH
Fuel Burn 30 Gallons/HR (I believe it is much higher that this, but this was the published burn rate)
Roughly 10 hours round trip at 30 GPH. 300 gallons used. Fuel well over $6.00 a gallon for the plane. So lets just say $1,800 for fuel alone.
Doesn’t cover any maintenance costs at all or wear and tear items.
So you decide, was this a wise choice to use the state plane for a democrat event.
I thing Blago needs to write a check to cover any costs associated with his use onf the plane. h
Comment by prowler Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:28 pm
Prowler-
Aviation fuel is dropping like gasoline. It’s under $3/gal in many places.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 4:30 pm
this only received attention because of the auto execs. he flew to a national meeting with the president elect. that’s one of the reasons that we have state planes. wasteful? perhaps, but there are more egregious examples of wasteful spending in Illinois. i’m surprised how strongly people feel about this.
Comment by Come on, now Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 5:09 pm
Prowler, you have the wrong Beechcraft, dude.
Air Farce One is a Super King Air 350, which cruises at about 270-300 knots in the mid-20 flight levels and burns 600 pounds of fuel per hour at cruise. AA has hundreds of hours of time in this a/c and can say that it is among the most fuel efficient in its class. So is a Chevy Tahoe.
A more valid metric than raw fuel costs may be the cost to charter the same a/c; The Google says between $1500-2000 per flight hour for a one-day PWK or MDW based charter.
Conclusion: NFW was it cheaper to take the State Plane, and even if one finds a Filanesque calculation to make it look close, the perception is still terrible.
Yours for Illinois,
AA
Proud Supporter of Bill for Senate and COMPOST
Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 5:20 pm
Why on earth would you take the bumpy little state plane to Philly in a five-hour trip when you could get there in two hours flying commercial? I realize it’s something of a hassle to go through O’Hare — but on the other hand, I’m guessing they wouldn’t make the Governor stand in line to go through security.
Comment by soccermom Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 5:23 pm
non issue — comments prove it. if it were as bad as you suggest, blago would havde been crucified on this blog.
Comment by anon Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 5:33 pm
anon, are you reading another blog? Also, since we did this yesterday, you might check that post as well.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 6:11 pm
It’s unfair to use Ohio’s Strickland as an example. He came in following an adminstration haunted by ethical questions and possible corruption. So of course he’s going to go out of his way to show he’s clean and ethical.
Really is unfair to compare that situation to Blagojevich.
Now let’s see if anyone gets the sarcasm.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 6:11 pm
All the govs should have video conferenced just like they require their state employees to do. That is the real issue they put into place policies restricting what employees do and than not follow the policies when it comes to them.
Comment by Rick Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 6:17 pm
AA-
Thanks for the info. We might infer the aircraft was in the air for 5-6 hours total on the round trip and used maybe 3500# of aviation fuel. That’s about 500 gallons, more or less. Lowest price I found for AvGas was $3.18/gal at Clow International in Bolingbrook- hopefully the state gets a similar deal on their recent purchases. $1600 for fuel, if you do a Filanesque calculation and treat the plane and pilot as sunk costs. $7-10k if you price it out as a charter flight including all costs. If so, why not sell the plane and fire the pilot.
No argument that public perception could be negative…especially with the history coloring the story.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 6:31 pm
The Blago sycophants on here can rationalize anything Blago does. It’s absurd. Their arguments hold less water than a rusted out sieve.
But… the lame excuses are amusing to read.
Comment by Big Mama T Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 7:32 pm
Well done, AA. Great info.
I think we’re all missing the point. Why did Milorad want to be governor? For the trappings of power. To take the state plane, to have bodyguards, to travel with a posse in SUVs (apparently with toilets), etc. In other words, to act like a macher, the big tuna, without really having to back it up. He’s certainly not interested in governing.
It’s been said before, but folks, we elected him twice. I cop to one vote; I voted for the Green guy the second time. Barring action of the U.S. attorney, why would he change?
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 7:54 pm
Lets not forget salary for pilot, co-pilot, attendant (benefits if they are full time), food and beverages on the flight - both ways.
Comment by Missy Thursday, Dec 4, 08 @ 8:50 pm
Missy, get a clue. Hit the Google if you don’t know better and find out that the King Air 350, though a beautiful and capable aircraft, seats 8 people comfortably, plus one uncomfortably if the potty is not planned to be used in flight.
“Flight attendants” on King Airs are also known as co-pilots. Food and beverages in flight consists of hot, but mediocre, coffee and whatever you carried on.
Six, I had to tweak your calc’s a bit, but in doing so, reached an even more ironic conclusion.
King Airs are turbine-powered aircraft, meaning they don’t run on AvGas, but smelly old Jet-A. (one of AA’s favorite smells.) It’s a bit pricier, around $4.50 average, higher near the lake, except in Gary, where they are giving this stuff away. AA would figure 600 gallons (not my money) at $4.50 for $2700, still breaking even in Filanland.
What dawned on me when you made your point about the charter is that we’re all forgetting that Air Farce One had to fly from the Patch, pick up POA and party, out to Philly and back, then home to SPI. There’s another 200 gallons of fuel down the chute, blowing the break-even argument to pieces.
Charter-wise, for the full operating cost of AF1 home to home, the State would have spent less to charter a Citation or similar small jet direct MDW-PHL. At $1800 per hour for 5 flight hours tops, the $9,000 charter is cheaper and faster than the $12,000 or greater real cost of Air Farce One. That savings does not include the cost of removing Blago’s swollen melon once he got inside a “real jet” again (probably first time since Stu Levine’s.)
Under AA’s COMPOST plan, the State Planes would be sold and any mope wanting to fly anywhere can either fly commercial or post a video on YouTube justifying the necessity of private air travel. After 48 hours of public comment, the State CFO will approve or deny the request.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Dec 5, 08 @ 12:46 am